Egypt's housing minister said Tuesday that around 90 to 95 percent of the total construction activities in the country's new administrative capital project will be assigned to local contractors, state-run news agency MENA reported. Chinese companies will only provide Egyptian contractors with long maturity loans to finance the construction of 14 new governmental buildings, major conference centre and fairs area, Moustafa Madbouly said at Cairo-based conference. In January, Egypt and China signed financial deals including loans, grants and memorandums of understanding worth around $15 billion of which a part is expected to be invested in the infrastructure of Egypt's planned new administrative capital. The new capital, which is part of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's plan to boost the economy through a series of mega-projects, is estimated to cost $45 billion. The government aims to complete the infrastructure of the 170,000 feddan project within three years, Madbouly said, adding that contractors will start working before end of the current month in the first phase of 30,000 feddans. Last month, chairman of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Akinwumi Adesina said the bank will offer a $140 million fund for the ambitious Egyptian project. source:Ahram Online
